In The Mental Traveller, the nineteenth-century poet William Blake says, “For the eye altering alters all.” In the poem, Blake is exploring the spiritual history of humanity as well as his own spiritual history. Regardless of the degree to which we are aware of it, we all have a spiritual history and a sense of the spiritual history of humanity. Although scholars have puzzled over the full meaning of the poem since it was first published, in some ways, Blake is saying, that when it comes to spirituality, “What you see is what you get.” In another poem, The Auguries of Innocence), Blake says
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
Blake is encouraging us to share his sense of expanded consciousness. For most of us, that’s a big leap, as we are focused on the daily challenges of being human. In 1968, Dr. Steve Karpman developed a model of communication he called the Drama Triangle. The principal roles on the Drama Triangle are the Persecutor, the Victim, and the Rescuer. At different times and for different reasons, most people spend much of their time playing those roles. They don’t always play the same role, of course. Today’s Persecutor can (and often does) become tomorrow’s Victim or Rescuer. Most human behavior remains on that level, and we can also see those roles being played by countries.
More than ten years ago (2009), with Karpman’s Drama Triangle as a starting point, Debra and I developed an extended model of communication possibilities. Our starting question was essentially, “What else is possible?” We began with the human chakra system. The Drama Triangle seemed centered in the three lowest chakras, Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus. Most of those who study the chakra system believe that the chakras develop in approximately seven-year periods, so the development of the first three chakras takes us from birth to young adulthood. The other chakras are, of course, present at birth and are in the process of development at their own rate and speed. When children seem “wise beyond their years” or “old souls,” it is probably because their chakra system is developing at a faster rate than the standard seven years for each.
In terms of your own development, think about how much time you spent feeling afraid or angry during your first seven years of life. Having to eat peas was one of those things that “set me off” when I was young. You can probably remember various things that you considered “unfair” or otherwise terrible. You probably can also remember times in late childhood and early adolescence that were the teenage equivalent of being forced to eat your “peas.” The Biblical “Age of Accountability,” when children (especially males) were supposed to be capable of adult decision-making, was 12. When you consider the process of chakra development, it is easy to understand why human history is replete with wars, basically tribal warfare with increasingly large tribes battling for territorial control. The victors got the “spoils,” and the losers became slaves.
The Cognitive Triangle is the next to develop in human consciousness. It consists of Authority/Law, Knowledge, and Imagination. The major cultures from human history all develop legal systems and rules for enforcing laws; accumulate knowledge in both oral and written form; and create art (poetry and literature, painting and sculpture, music and dance).
We won’t really have many “peace makers” until a critical mass of people have a reasonably well-developed heart chakra, which fosters compassion. Some individuals are, of course, “ahead of their time” when it comes to what we now think of as “soul development.” Confucius, Buddha, and Jesus were among those who were ahead of their time. And, of course, their teachings helped accelerate the soul development of at least some of the rest of us. In terms of group soul development, however, most people are still operating from the Cognitive Triangle. The spiritual insights of the most enlightened from the past become Laws, and—by tribal law—violations of those laws must be punished.
For culture—for humanity—to get past the point where most people are operating out of the lower three chakras, will require increasing numbers of people to awaken the remaining chakras: heart (love and compassion), throat (speaking the truth), brow (insight and vision), and crown, spirituality. Debra and I have called the interaction among the higher chakras, The Transrational Pyramid. The base consists of Peace, Clarity, and Awareness. Those three elements functioning together produce a pyramid of Harmony.
To download a PDF version of the article, “The Drama Triangle Revisited,” click on the link: The Drama Triangle Revisited. It provides a good guide to your current spiritual vision and the possibilities of grown as your altering eye alters all. I don’t know about you, but I still have a way to go before I can think of myself as being “transrational.”